Pulled Pork for 300!

[TentHunter]

It's been an extremely busy past few weeks. One of the things we did last weekend was cook Pulled Pork for the High School Band Banquet & Awards Ceremony (250 - 300 people). Each family was to bring a side dish and I was tasked with providing the pulled pork.

I went something like this...

First, for large crowds, a good estimate for how much pork to buy & cook is: No. People / 4 = lbs of pork. So I ran out and bought 10 butts and 1 picnic totaling about 73 lbs.

Next, 3 lbs of homemade rub mixed up and ready to go.

A big tub makes rubbing the butts a little easier.

Note: If you ever wondered how much food a MAK 1 Star will hold compared to some other grills, let me tell you: The tall straight side walls and the second rack will allow you to cook 8 med - large butts (or four whole shoulders). That's enough for 200+ people!

The Weber/Stoven picked up the overflow.

Looking good, so far. Time to foil.

Done and pulled! We ended up with four large foil pans like this:

It was a little bit of work, but fun cooking for a large crowd. We actually had about 225 folks show up, so there were lots of leftovers.

Thanks for looking!

 

[Big Poppa]

Great work and thanks for pointing out just how much food the One Star can cook...and cook to perfection A real good point to make is that with that load the extra humidity the meat adds makes for a wonderful smoke

Dont you hate no shows?

 

[jimsbarbecue]

who would have thought that 8 butts would MAKe a one Star look even better.

 

[NorCal Smoker]

Great cook! I have difficulty cooking for more than 10.

 

[MossyMO]

Nice work TH, that is a lot of pork pulling!

 

[Chili Head]

Nice job buddy! I've cooked butts for 100 last year but my goodness 300!? That's a lot pulling! I'm sure it was appreciated by everyone there!

 

[Darwin00537]

That's some nice char on your bark. What temp did you cook at and what sugars did you use if I may ask?

Very nice cook!

 

[samc42830]

Mr. Hunter,

Those are some good looking butts & I loved the bark. Can you tell us what temp you used & if you don't mind, can you share your rub?

thanks,
Sandy

 

[TentHunter]

Mr. Hunter,

Those are some good looking butts & I loved the bark. Can you tell us what temp you used & if you don't mind, can you share your rub?

thanks,
Sandy

That's some nice char on your bark. What temp did you cook at and what sugars did you use if I may ask?

Very nice cook!

If I had to buy rub for that much pork it would greatly increase the cost. My homemade rub is brown sugar based (I love the molasses flavor it gives and helps the bark form nicely). We have a discount grocery store so I can get the spices for about $1 per bottle. It lets me make this large batch of rub for about $7 - $8 and it will do about 15 or so butts/picnics.

Rub Recipe:

2 lb. bag of brown sugar
1/2 cup Salt (I use Pickling salt, but table salt will work fine)
1/2 cup Paprika (1 sm. jar - 2.25 oz.)
1/2 cup Garlic Powder (1 sm. jar 3 oz.)
1/2 cup Onion Powder (1 sm. jar 2.25 oz.)
1/2 cup Chili Powder (1 sm. jar 2.25 oz.)
1 TBS Black Pepper
1 tsp Cinnamon


Since I make the rub it's relatively inexpensive, so I coat the shoulders with as much rub as they will hold.

Cooking: I start off in smoke mode for about an hour, then bump the temp up to around 225° - 250° for a few hours, then I bump them temp up to about 300° for a little while before foiling. This lets the sugars caramelize a bit and the bark form the way I wanted (those shoulders are not not burned).

When the bark looks the way I want, then I put them all in foil pans with a little braising liquid (vinegar with a little of the brown sugar rub works great). Wrap them up tightly and put put them back on to braise at 300° for a couple hours for 1 1/2 - 2 hours or so until tender. This let's them cruise right on through the dreaded stall, and catches all the juice. That juice is like liquid gold. I add some of it back to the pork after pulling and it adds a lot of great, slightly smoky flavor (that's why I never bother to inject butts).


I do NOT go by a finish internal temp; I believe firmly in testing for tenderness by probing after I know they've had sufficient time. If the probe meets resistance, then the meat isn't done. When the probe slides all the way in with virtually no resistance (like warm butter), then, and only then, do I know the connective tissues have broken down and the meat is done, no matter what the temp is.

Hope that makes sense.




A note about my math: People have questioned my math for pulled pork of 1/4 lb per person for large cooks and argue that you need 1/2 lb. If there's one thing I've learned from the 30 or so large group cooks I've done, it's this: 1/2 lb of meat per person is simply TOO MUCH!

► Sides play a HUGE role; Buns and sides, especially starchy sides (potatoes, Mac-N-Cheese, etc), are very filling.

► You always get a few who will eat more, but you also get some who eat less and in a large group you are bound to have at least a few who won't eat any meat at all.

That formula works pretty well for sides too.

Hope this makes sense too!


Cliff

 

[samc42830]

A million THANKS Mr. Hunter!!

Sandy

 

[cowdog]

Thanks, TentHunter, great tips and information. I agree with your 1/4 lb per person, but I also use slider rolls which do not hold quite as much meat. I like the smaller slider rolls as those that want more meat can have a second, or third, and those that won't eat a larger bun full, such as kids, won't waste meat.